Just Ask: A True Story About a Bold Request That Led to a Big Win

How Our Story Begins…

When Dr. Anne Welsh contacted me and described her book idea, I was immediately intrigued.

She hadn’t started writing it yet, but had a vision and was looking for a book coach and writing partner.

Anne, a therapist, executive coach, and mom of four, worked for Harvard Health Services before opening her own practice. She specializes in working with ambitious women.

“My typical client is a mom with a demanding career,” Anne told me during our first conversation. “Someone trying to achieve big professional goals and raise kids at the same time. She’s spinning so many plates in the air and feels stretched so thin.”

“I want to write a book for these women,” she explained.

I asked Anne, “Imagine one of these women is holding your completed book in her hands. What’s the message you want the book to deliver to her? More than anything else, what do you want her to know?”

Anne paused to consider this question, then said:

“I want her to know that you can have children and ambition.”

She continued:

“Becoming a mother may change your ambition, but the change is not necessarily an atrophy. It can be an expansion. You may become more ambitious than ever, or ambitious in a different way, after having kids.”

“I want her to understand that ambition can mean many things—wanting more power, impact, money, time, space, or joy. It’s okay to want whatever you want. And your ambition can evolve through different seasons of motherhood.”

“I want her to know that all mothers are ‘working mothers’ whether they earn an income or not.”

Lastly, she added:

“I want her to define what being an ‘ambitious mother’ means to her. It could look like pursuing a promotion, starting a business, shifting to a part-time role, or taking a career pause to focus on the kids for a while. I want her to name what she truly wants—not what society says she should want—and take steps to create it.”

“The Book I Personally Need…”

I left our first conversation with tears in my eyes, because everything Anne shared spoke so directly to my heart. 

At the time, my daughter Nora was still in diapers. I was nursing, pumping, and working full-time while my husband stayed home with our child. I had also stepped into a caregiver role while my mom underwent cancer treatment. When Anne said that many of her clients feel like they are “drowning,” I could deeply relate. 

I’m a woman who holds herself to very high standards. I wanted to be the best mom, spouse, daughter, writer, editor, and service provider that I could be. But trying to do it all—at least, the way I’d been doing it—felt exhausting and unsustainable. Could there be a way to keep my passion, drive, and ambition—without burning myself out?

“This is the book I personally need to read,” I thought. “So many other moms do, too.”

Next Steps

Anne and I agreed to work together. 

Over the next few months, we fleshed out her book concept, created a chapter outline, wrote a proposal, and pitched literary agents.

Soon, Anne signed with an agent and received an offer from a reputable publisher. The next step was writing the manuscript.

During the writing process, I asked, “Have you considered inviting someone to contribute a foreword for the book?”

“In your dream scenario,” I continued, “who would it be?”

“It’s probably such a long shot…” Anne said. “But my dream person would be Robin Arzón.”

My whole body lit up. Robin Arzón—New York Times bestselling author, head instructor and VP of Fitness Programming at Peloton, athlete, global icon, and mom of two. 

“Let’s ask her,” I said. “You never know.”

A quick Google search led me to Robin’s website, where I found contact information for her team. 

Anne and I drafted an email highlighting her credentials and the mission behind the book. We emphasized that—should Robin be interested in contributing the foreword—we’d make the process as easy for her as possible. 

We kept the message brief, with a no-pressure tone.

Want to see the email that went to Robin’s team?

Then Anne hit “Send.”

Hopeful But Unattached

We had no expectations. But to our surprise, Robin’s team replied quickly—and she was interested.

After a few follow-up emails, the details were finalized. Anne and I had a little squealy moment of delight (“Eeee!”) and felt proud of ourselves for making the ask.

The foreword came together beautifully. Robin’s perspective brought exactly the right energy to the opening of the book.

I came away from this experience with a powerful reminder: Just ask.

Make the Ask…

…even if it feels like a long shot. You never know. They might say yes.

Even if it’s a no, there’s still value in trying. By reaching out, you will expand your capacity to do brave things and sharpen your communication skills.

If you don’t get the response you hoped for, evaluate your approach and find ways to improve next time. Ask yourself:  

• Could my message have been shorter?
• Was my call to action clear?
• Was my timing right?
• Did my tone feel too demanding?
• Was this “too much, too soon”? Perhaps next time, I can focus on cultivating the connection first and be patient, rather than making a request too early in the relationship.
• How can I give generously to the people in my network, so that I’m known as someone who gives far more than they ask?

These questions lead to greater success in the future.

Tips for a Successful Ask

• Instead of thinking, “I’m asking for a favor,” think: “I’m proposing a win-win collaboration that could be exciting for us both.” The former has a needy energy. The latter is empowering.
• Be intentional about what you say and how you say it. Keep your message as brief as possible. Brevity demonstrates respect for your time and theirs.
• Put yourself in their shoes. If you were them, what would inspire you to say yes?
• Bring a spirit of abundance. Trust that if this doesn’t work out, something equivalent or better is coming along.
• Invite a friend to ask with you, because it’s easier to be brave when you do it together. Maybe you want to reach out to a potential client, and they want to ask their boss for an opportunity. Do a countdown (“3…2…1…”) and hit “send” at the same moment. 
• Remember that asking doesn’t have to occur via email. Depending on the situation, a text, video, phone, or in-person conversation may be best.
• Stay open to surprises. It’s possible they may respond with a different idea (“What if we did this instead…?”) that’s even better than what you originally envisioned.

Baby Step: a Tiny Ask

Maybe there’s a collaboration you want to propose, but you keep putting it off because you feel nervous or haven’t figured out the right wording yet.

Here’s a baby step you can take—today. 

If you already know this person fairly well, say:

• “I have an exciting idea I’d love to propose. Next week, could I send you a brief blurb to share what I’m thinking?” 

Here, you’re making a very tiny ask. You’re not asking them to say “yes” to anything—yet. You’re simply asking if they’d be open to hearing your idea.

If they say “Sure,” now you have a deadline and healthy pressure to organize your thoughts and get moving. Game on!

Your Next Ask

Whoever is reading this, I know there’s some kind of ask you want—or need—to make.

Maybe it’s:

• Asking your employer for a different, more flexible schedule.
• Asking your spouse to handle dinner three nights a week so you can study, write, work out, or rest.
• Asking someone you admire to collaborate with you on a project, centered around a cause you both care about. 

What is something you want to call into your life, or a collaboration you’d love to do? 

Make the ask.

Additional Reading

Ambitious Mother by Dr. Anne Welsh

• If you’re juggling career and kids and constantly feel overwhelmed—or guilty for focusing on your professional ambitions—this book is for you. 
• Pre-order the book before its release date, and Anne will send you a “thank you” gift. Check out the details.

Rich Relationships by Selena Soo

• A guide to building powerful relationships with clients, mentors, referral partners, and other people who can help you achieve your professional goals.
• The book includes scripts for reaching out and proposing win-win collaborations.

Two articles I wrote: 

• “Shoot Your Shot,” a true story about a Hollywood actress who made an unconventional request. 
• “Ask for Miracles,” another true story about a friend who needed $300,000 fast—and how a courageous ask changed everything.

Want to Work with Me?

Ready to write your first—or next—book?

I work with a small number of clients each year. As a writer, editor, and book coach, I can help you: 

• Get clear on your book idea and the message you want to bring across.
• Understand your publishing options (self-publishing, hybrid, and traditional) and choose the path that is right for you.
• Connect with literary agents who may be interested in representing you.
• Craft a successful book proposal that leads to a publishing deal.
• Write a powerful, bestselling book that changes readers’ lives.

My clients and their books have appeared on the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Los Angeles Times bestseller lists, on Good Morning America, in The New York Times, Forbes, and beyond.

Visit this webpage to learn more about working with me, including selected projects, awards, praise from clients, and pricing.

Email alexandra@alexandrafranzen.com if there’s a project you’d like to discuss. 

Your Greatest Work is Still Ahead of You

When you hear “Claude Monet,” you probably picture his iconic paintings of water lilies.

What you may not know is that he nearly abandoned this project—and almost never finished it.

As the story goes…

A few years before his 70th birthday, Monet became creatively blocked and imprisoned by self-doubt. He had been working on a collection of water lilies but couldn’t get things to look the way he wanted.

Painting water is tricky—it is never still, always shifting in the wind, the light always changing. How do you capture something that is perpetually in fluid motion?

Monet felt vexed and frustrated, unable to capture the beauty of the lilies as he envisioned.

Further compounding Monet’s distress, his art dealer worried that these large, abstract paintings weren’t commercially viable and wouldn’t sell. The dealer’s lack of confidence sent Monet spiraling further into his pit of doubt.

Witnessing her husband’s distress, Monet’s wife Alice said, “You need a break. Let’s go to Venice.” (I’m paraphrasing here, but that was the gist of it.)

In Venice, Italy, Monet was awestruck by the beauty that surrounded him—the way the luminous light filtered into the water, the gondolas, and exquisite architecture. He described the city as “too beautiful to be painted,” though he decided to try anyway.

During his two-month stay in Venice, he didn’t paint lilies. Instead, he painted the city—often painting the same scene at different times of day to capture the ever-shifting light on the water. He ended up creating 37 oil-on-canvas paintings inspired by Venezia, the city of canals.

When he and Alice returned home, Monet tackled his water lily collection with renewed excitement and a new perspective.

Thanks to his time in Venice, the floating city, Monet had a new understanding of water and was able to translate what he saw in his mind onto the canvas.

Finally, he finished his water lilies.

The new collection debuted and was a resounding success.

There’s so much I love about this story—and three lessons that I find personally impactful.

One: breakthroughs rarely happen when you are pacing around your workspace, stuck in your office, or glued to a screen. The miracle arrives when you step away from habitual patterns.

A walk, a long drive, or wandering through a new place—this is what creates enough space in your mind for inspiration to drop in.

Two: when someone you love says, “Come away with me, let’s go on a trip…” as often as you can, even if it is greatly inconvenient and the timing is far from ideal, take the trip.

You will be transformed and revived, likely in ways you didn’t even know you needed.

And, some opportunities do not last forever. (Alice, Monet’s beloved wife, died just a few years after their life-altering journey to Venice. Thank goodness they experienced their journey together, while they could.)

Three: your greatest work is still ahead of you. The best is yet to come.

Monet was in his 70s and 80s when he painted some of his most beloved water lily paintings, now cherished by millions around the world, and valued at $70 million apiece.

Masterpieces can be born in every stage of life.

It is never too late to create something beautiful. Or to revisit a project you abandoned long ago, whether large or small. You can return to it, perhaps even finish it, this decade, this year, or today.

Today is not over yet.

PS. If you have the opportunity to see the “Monet and Venice” exhibition at the de Young Museum in San Francisco—do it. It’s breathtaking.

My Morning Routine

In the pre-child era of my life, I had a lovely, peaceful morning ritual. I’d wake up naturally, sip coffee in silence, and watch the dawn sky turn pink and lavender. Delightful.

Once my daughter Nora was born, mornings shifted from cozy to chaotic.

For the first three years of her life, I didn’t have an intentional routine—just bleary, sleep-deprived, white-knuckle survival mode.

My Previous Morning Routine

For about 1,000 mornings in a row, during the first few years of my child’s life, the pattern went like this:

• Nora wakes (4 am, 5 am—who knows?) and immediately cries for me. She’s hungry and wants mama right now.
• The sound jolts me awake.
• With my nervous system on high alert, I leap out of bed, heart pounding, and rush over to her crib.
• Without taking a moment to splash water on my face or even use the toilet, I instantly spring into mom-mode: rocking, soothing, feeding.
• The rest of the morning blurs into nursing, diapers, cleanup, and later (once she is older) coaching her through tantrums and meltdowns, lunch packing, persuading her to get buckled into the car seat (always a Herculean feat!), and getting out the door on time.
• By 8:30 or 9 am, when I begin my workday, I’m already exhausted—and the day has only just begun.

Unsurprisingly, this “routine” started each day on a frazzled note.

Could I have created a better routine for myself during those infant and toddler years? Absolutely.

But did I? No, I did not.

Why not? Fatigue and brain fog. It’s hard to come up with creative solutions to problems when you’re worn out and not thinking clearly. I resigned myself to the idea that “this is just how it is right now” and “this won’t last forever.”

Then, earlier this year, Nora started sleeping until 6:30 am consistently. No more 4 am shrieks. A revelation.

I thought, “We have entered a new era! This is an opportunity to revamp my morning routine. I could start waking up before her and have some quiet time.”

I grabbed a notepad, mapped out an ideal morning, and committed to trying it.

My Current Morning Routine

For the last 100 days, my routine has looked like this:

• I wake at 5:30 am—an hour before my husband and child.
• I head to the kitchen, start the coffee machine, use a chilled face roller (like this one), and drink a big glass of water.
• I sip coffee in silence, listening to calm, inspiring music (here’s a Morning Routine Playlist I curated with my favorites).
• I write a gratitude list, then roll out my yoga mat and stretch for 10 to 20 minutes.
• I read my 100 Day Letter (it’s a description of the life I want, 100 days in the future, written in present tense as though these future events have already happened).
• I glance at my Winning the Week list (a concept from husband-and-wife duo, Demir and Carey Bentley) to refocus on my top priorities.
• Lastly, I review my day: “By the end of today, I want to be celebrating…”

By the time Nora gets up, I am refreshed, caffeinated, and so happy to greet her.

I pull her onto the couch and we cuddle and talk while my husband makes us breakfast.

Now that is a morning routine!

Finally, I have created what life coach Susan Hyatt calls a Big Yes Morning.

It took a couple years. It probably could have happened sooner. But hey, better now than never.

A Great Morning Begins the Night Before

A concept I learned from naturopathic physician Dr. Corina Dunlap is that deep, restorative sleep starts in the morning.

Beginning your day with frantic energy sets a negative snowball into motion, which gathers speed throughout the day, leading to poor quality sleep at night.

The same is true in reverse: going to bed too late and getting low-quality sleep means the next morning will be rough.

For my positive morning routine to happen, I needed to adjust my evening routine as well: soothing wind-down, reading a physical book rather than bingeing on Netflix, earlier bedtime. Morning and night are entirely connected.

But First, a Shift in Beliefs

Psychologist Dr. Sasha Heinz once told me: “Every behavior is the expression of a belief.”

If you believe, “I need every single minute of sleep I can possibly get, I don’t want to wake up earlier because then I’ll be even more tired,” then you’ll hit the snooze button (even if it means a frenzied rush later).

If you believe, “Waking up earlier is hard sometimes, but it’s a trade-off that’s worth it because when I get up early and take some time for myself, I have more energy for the rest of the day,” you’ll get up at dawn and have a very different experience.

Most people try to change their behavior without addressing the belief driving this behavior in the first place. We insist we will change, relying on willpower and brute force: “I will just do it!” This never works. A shift in thinking must come first.

To change my routine, I had to question my convictions and assumptions and try on new ones. New beliefs lead to new behaviors, which lead to new outcomes.

Consistent, Not Perfect

Rebuilding my morning routine has reinforced a few simple truths. Things I already knew, but needed to remember:

• If something isn’t working, you don’t have to grimace and endure it. You can build something better.
• Perfection is not the goal. There’s no world in which I will complete 100% of my morning routine checklist items, 100% of the time. That’s unrealistic. The goal is 80/20. If I do my morning routine 80% of the time, that’s enough to keep me feeling great. The other 20%? Life happens—and that’s okay.
• Small decisions add up. Waking earlier. Water before coffee. Journaling instead of scrolling. These choices compound into a life that feels different.

Start with One Hour

What’s one part of your day that needs a tune-up?

The first hour of your morning? First hour of your workday? Final hour of the evening?

What would make this part of your day so much better?

What’s a plan that is beautiful and inspiring, and also realistic for the season of life you are in?

You don’t have to overhaul everything in your life overnight.

Start with one hour.

The ripple will spread into the other 23 hours of your day.

16 Lessons From 16 Years of Self-Employment

Exactly 16 years ago, I celebrated my final day as an employee and my first day as an entrepreneur.

Over the years, my career has gone through several evolutions.

In the Beginning

I started out as a rookie freelance writer, hustling hard to find paying gigs and establish a name for myself.

In the beginning, work was scarce and times were lean. I made temporary sacrifices, some of which I’d recommend (like getting a roommate) and others that I later regretted (like draining all the cash in my retirement account to cover my mortgage).

Little by little, projects came in—a trickle at first, then a steady stream.

Tipping Point

A few years in, a tipping point came, and I found myself with more work than I could handle on my own.

I began scaling—a part-time assistant who later went full-time, new offers that served hundreds of customers instead of one client at a time, then a business partner, and eventually more employees and contractors.

Motherhood and Major Shifts

After the birth of my daughter, things changed.

I wanted fewer demands on my time, more simplicity and quiet. I missed the earlier days of my career, when I worked one-to-one with clients and built close, personal connections with each person.

I no longer wanted to spend my days in team meetings, managing employees, or being responsible for so many people’s paychecks. I was nursing my newborn around the clock, I was tired, and my priorities were shifting. I longed to return to the creative work I loved: writing, editing, and creating beautiful books.

It wasn’t that my professional ambition was dwindling. If anything, becoming a mother made me more ambitious, lighting a fire that hadn’t been present before.

As a new mom, I wanted to level up—become a stronger writer and better service provider, collaborate with the world’s top publishers, increase my income significantly, reduce the number of projects on my plate, and focus on a select few. Do less and do it better. My ambition wasn’t shrinking—it was changing shape.

(I owe great thanks to Dr. Anne Welsh, author of Ambitious Mother, for helping me embrace the shift that was happening inside of my heart and mind, and for reminding me that ambition comes in many forms.)

After some tough conversations with myself and others, I streamlined my career and stepped away from a few endeavors, leaving them in the capable hands of my business partner, who chose to keep the company we co-founded going on her own. (We remain great friends, offering the utmost support for each other’s careers.)

My Work—Today

Today, I get to focus on what I love most:

• Writing my books, journals, and card decks with top publishers like Penguin Random House, Hachette, and Chronicle.
• Leading a writing retreat in Hawaii once a year, with many guests who return annually.
• Working with a small number of clients, helping them land publishing deals and write bestselling, award-winning books that change readers’ lives.

At the moment, my career feels like the ideal shape and size for this season of my life. I’m sure it will evolve again in the future. For now, there’s a feeling of just-right-ness that I appreciate.

My Greatest Lessons

Without further ado, here are 16 lessons from 16 years of self-employment.

None of these lessons are revolutionary, and that is perhaps the point: success in business usually comes down to a few simple, universal, timeless truths—things you’ve heard before, things you’ve even said yourself, but that we all need to be reminded of, time and time again.

1. Deliver exactly what you said you would.
2. Hone your skills over time and work toward becoming the top provider in your field.
3. Keep a record of your wins and the results you get for your clients or customers to remind yourself (and others) why it is a very good move to work with you.
4. Don’t overinflate your accomplishments, but do state them succinctly and accurately for others to see.
5. Make the ask.
6. Take more time away from work—breakthrough ideas arrive during a forest walk, a hot shower, or while laughing with friends, not when you are glued to your screen.
7. Keep your promises, big and small. Whether you say, “I’ll text you a link to that website I mentioned,” or “I’d be happy to make that introduction for you,” follow through.
8. It is okay to have high standards and want things to be just right. Surround yourself with colleagues and team members who feel the same way.
9. Details do matter—font, colors, lighting, timing, tone—because all the details converge to create a particular feeling that clients remember, for better or worse.
10. Excellence is attainable. Perfection is not.
11. Define what success means to you personally and commit to this vision.
12. Be fierce and deliberate about reducing incoming noise. It’s extremely difficult to solve problems and produce your best work when you are bombarded by notifications, distractions, and interruptions.
13. If your plan is clearly not working, don’t keep doing it harder—pause, come up with fresh ideas, and try again with a different approach.
14. Put yourself in the client’s shoes: what is their dream? How could you help make their dream come true? What would feel like a miracle for them, provide relief, or make their life so much easier?
15. Be unexpectedly generous.
16. When in doubt, the simplest option is usually the best one.

Not everyone wants to be self-employed.

But if this path calls to you, it is a road—much like the journey of becoming a parent—that will compel you to build new skills, increase your ability to tolerate discomfort, and grow in ways you didn’t even know you needed.

To my fellow freelancers, contractors, entrepreneurs, founders, and other self-employed workers: I’m sending solidarity, peace, and power your way.

Thank you for making your contribution to the world, whatever that looks like for you.

PS. One final lesson I want to add: Never miss a sunset.

It’s something my grandfather Selig always used to say, and that my mom tells me often.

Even when you have deadlines weighing heavily on your shoulders, throngs of clients who need your attention, an incalculable number of emails to answer, and loose ends to tie up, don’t lock into your computer screen so intensely that you miss out on your life.

Stop and get a beverage. Put down your phone and look up. Watch the sunset. Take it all in. Savor the beautiful life you are working so hard to build.

No matter how busy or successful you become, never miss those little moments that add up to a life well-lived.

Out of all the lessons I mentioned, this one is the most important, and the one I need to remind myself of the most often.

Infinite Versions of Success

Years ago, a woman named Andrea reached out and asked if I could help her write a book.

“Tell me more about what you are envisioning,” I said. “What type of book?”

She explained that her book wasn’t the conventional kind. It wouldn’t be sold on Amazon or sit on the shelf at Barnes & Noble.

Because this book was intended for just five readers: her children.

“I want to create a book of wisdom from my life,” she told me. “Things that have happened to me, lessons I’ve learned the hard way, and ideas I want my kids to carry with them.”

“I’ll print five copies,” she continued. “On each child’s 18th birthday, I’ll give them their book, along with an audiobook I’ve recorded. That way, years from now, when I’m no longer alive, they’ll still have my voice with them—always.”

Tears in my eyes, I said, “I would be honored to help you create this.”

When I begin working with a new client, one of the first questions I ask is, “When it comes to this particular project, what does success mean for you?” I invite them to define it on their own terms.

For Andrea, success meant finishing the project rather than putting it off indefinitely, enjoying the process, and creating a keepsake for her children.

Fiona defined success differently: “I don’t care too much about book sales,” she explained, adding, “I want to donate 100 copies to hospitals, clinics, schools, and libraries. If I can change—or save—even one life, that’s success to me.”

Jen’s version of success sounded like this: “I want to hit a major bestseller list, one with prestige and gravitas. Mainstream visibility matters to me, because it opens doors for other women authors—especially women of color.”

Three very different—and equally beautiful—versions of success.

All three of these clients accomplished precisely what they intended to do.

What does it mean to be “successful”? It means whatever you decide.

Are you a successful author? An excellent leader? A good parent?

In the past, I often chased goals relentlessly without pausing to consider, “What does success mean to me personally?”

Instead, I sprinted after someone else’s version of success—hustling to amass more social media followers, pitching myself to appear on morning TV talk shows, changing my business model, pricing, or marketing approach to match what my colleagues were doing—and even after accomplishing the feat, it only resulted in exhaustion, an empty-feeling spirit, and an even emptier bank account. It’s not that any of these endeavors aren’t right—it’s just that they weren’t right for me.

Other times, I made my definition of success unnecessarily complicated—with too many different goals—and wound up spread thin, spinning in circles, expending tons of energy and getting pretty much nowhere. (It’s difficult to aim your arrow at sixteen different bullseyes all at once.)

And sometimes, I hesitated to admit what I really wanted—holding back from saying, “I want to get a book deal with one of the top publishers in the world,” “I want to earn a lot more money,” or even, “Actually, if I’m being honest, I would like to get married one day,”—downplaying my hopes because it felt safer to pretend I didn’t care about these things. Easier to feign that these “didn’t matter,” shielding myself from potential disappointment.

Gradually, I am learning how to define success in specific, personal language that rings true for me, with rightness and resonance, like the clearest bell.

An invitation for myself, my clients, and you:

• Consider a project you want to do (book, podcast, etc.) or a role you have in life (service provider, mom, etc.)
• For this project or role, decide what success means to you.
• Write down your definition. Try to keep it brief and uncomplicated. Think: a sentence or two.
• Read it back and ask: “Is this really what I want to achieve? Or am I shrinking or inflating my desires based on societal expectations, or due to limiting beliefs about myself and what I am capable of?”
• Consider how this definition feels physically in your body. Does it bring tears to your eyes because you know it’s true, and this is the first time you have admitted what you want? Cause tingles of nervous excitement? Feel blasé or boring? Tight or constricting?
• Adjust your definition if needed.
• If it’s helpful, create your primary definition of success (what matters most) and your secondary definition (not essential, but would be lovely—if this happens, it’s a cherry on top).

Once you have defined success, go after it with the understanding that the vision may evolve over time. What success looks like at 42 may differ from what it meant half a lifetime ago at 21.

Research tells us that feeling successful can boost our well-being. When people feel effective, capable, and competent, they’re more motivated to tackle new endeavors and keep growing and improving. I have certainly noticed this in my own life: the more I feel like I am winning, the more determination and vigor I bring to my goals, and the more wins I stack up.

When you can sigh with satisfaction at the end of a long journey and say, “I set a clear intention. I did what I set out to do. I am truly proud of myself,” it’s an incredibly positive feeling. But you can’t access this emotion unless you know what success means in the first place.

What does it mean to you?